James Steven Beverly

Wow, What a rush! Hey man, I looked around for you but you must have been busy promoting Against the Wild. I DID check out your poster on the lobby entrance floor though. It looked great. I hope it helped.How'd it go for you?

I actually don't have disdain for mega-buck features. I think some are incredible. I just have a thing about expanding pathetic paper thin concepts with no substance into mega-million features that are boring and stupid in execution and drain funding from better, less financial driven projects, that might take a little longer to make their money. Some of these smaller projects which did get made, for example Gravity and The Conjouring, come to mind as the potential for what could have been had more funding been available.. There are notable exceptions like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, although I don't remember what the budget was so it may one fit into the mega-bucks category. As for my project, The Hunted, It's low budget action horror film, but with all due modesty, it's different then any monster movie you've seen. The screen grabs are from the sizzle reel we put together. At this point in my career, it's where I'm at however,when I get to a point where I might be considered for helming a mega-buck feature, if the story is compelling and the cast ans crew are good, I'd hire on in a New York second. The only obsicles I could see whold be I usually write my own projects and I'm leery of studios as I tend to dislike compromise when it comes to my vision particularly when it comes to my own work.

That's insane. Family films make a fortune when they're done right. Hell, Spielberg built a studio on them. Disney owns half the world because of kids watching their movies. Making a good one is hard though, it's REAL easy to blow what could have been a terrific family film out of the water because it was too cutesy or too whatever.

Every once in a while, I accidentally get something right, Thanks for the kind words.

Who ever said that? I just can't write them, that's all. I can, but it's not my strong point. YOU on the other hand, seem to rock that genre.

That wasn't a question, it was a declarative statement. I'm not really interested in opinions on this one. I found the video hilarious and wouldn't mind creating a similar character ala Handcock that was my version of someone like this guy. He's great!!

T

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Oh,you're French, that explains a lot No, I think you misunderstood my point. Everyone who works on the picture contributes their own portion of style to the final product so underestimating their individual contribution to the over all style in favor of some ego centric director as god myth is absurd. Your system sucks for getting the best product. Some people can do it all but they rarely do it all well. Some are brilliant writers that couldn't direct traffic and some directors could screw up writing with an empty pen. I've directed other peoples work and my own. I like doing my own work but am not adverse to directing someone else's script i it's a story I want to make. The last editing job I did was an abandoned spec television series with a fair amount of footage that the director had tried to cut into a feature. He couldn't do anything with it. I asked if I could look at the footage. He agreed and I watched it then told him I thought I could do something with it. He agreed to pay me for the cut and I spent some time using every trick in the book to make the footage work. It took a while but after a few weeks I had the cut and then finished post, leaving him with a watchable 94 minute feature film. That film got him enough interest for investors to fund the sequel which he made. I was unavailable to work on the sequel but from what I later heard, it bombed and he quit making films. Anyway, this is starting to bore me and I have better things to do so bye.

I had a whole thing written here, but XXXX it. Let me put it this way. "If the director isn't there, no one else will make the film happen." Gone With the Wind had 3 XXXXing directors. SELZNICK MADE IT HAPPEN. The Wizard of Oz had 5 XXXXing directors, NONE OF WHICH HAD ANYTHING IN COMMON WHEN IT CAME TO STYLE!! There is no "apparently", ace. I've directed a XXXXload of 5hit or should I say, I've written, directed and produced a XXXXload of 5hit so let me ask you one question my 24 year old colleague, what are some titles you've helmed? They can be theatrical,commercial, industrial, music video, educational or narrative (short or feature). I have done all but narrative feature although that will chance this coming year. Personally, I have a simple philosophy for production, hire good people and let them do their job. Guide but don't micromanage and have the utmost respect for their contribution to the project. There's an old Hollywood adage: There are 2 entry level jobs on a film set, Production Assistant and Director. My self-deprecation is a nod to the vital contribution of those whom I work with have made. My people would walk into Hell for me and I will have their backs all the way to the wall. They believe in me because I am a professional and act like one on set. I've done almost every job there is to do on set with the exception of continuity. They trust me because I trust them and they know I know what I'm doing and what I want but also that I have enough humility to take suggestions from anyone on the set if it makes the movie batter. I have no ego for myself. The film is the only thing I'm concerned with. If the PA has a good idea, a better idea than I had envisioned, HIS idea is implemented and mine is cut. I don't take myself seriously because there is no need for me to act like an arrogant, pompous, self glorified ass in order to stay in charge,keep the production moving and get what I need to cut the film together and get it sold. As for "Tropic Thunder" being the inspiration for the Rhesus monkey line, I've seen the film like 7 times. I don't remember a line about a Rhesus monkey but feel free to enlighten me. BTW, the screenwriter has far more to do with style than the director. I refer you to Lethal Weapon and screenwriter Shane Black and the book that has changed he film industry for better or worse, Save the Cat by former screenwriter, Blake Snyder (now deceased) . But you are right about one thing, this discussion in pointless. You need more experience before you'll understand what I'm talking about and I grow weary of debating the obvious. Good luck with your style centric approach to film making.

You know, I MIGHT agree with some of those statements except for the fact that The iconic film The Wizard of Oz had FIVE directors,The equally great film Gone with the Wind's vision was mainly formed by David O. Selznick not the 3 directors that worked on it at various times and the admittedly great style of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate couldn't save the film when it crashed and burned like the Hindenburg, effectively ending his career. To quote Argo: Tony Mendez: Can you teach somebody to be a director in a day? John Chambers: You can teach a rhesus monkey to be a director in a day. AGAIN, stop taking yourself so XXXXing seriously.

:lol: I had that same reaction!!

http://archive.org/details/InterviewsWithOrsonWelles I met Mr. Bogdanovich a few years ago when he came to the Temple Mt. Sinai here in El Paso for a lecture. A more elegant, refined and strikingly present gentleman, I have never met. I had the great privilege spending an hour discussing film with him after the lecture and he was essentially a living encyclopedia on cinema and truly generous with his knowledge. He was also a terrific person to talk to, A producer I know in Canada John Talbot, sent me this link, knowing I'm a huge fan of Welles work and I wanted to share it. Please enjoy this audio insight onto the mind of one of the greatest film makers that ever lived.

Dude, it's not. When it comes to your work, YOU don't decide what art is. You're AUDIENCE decides if you created art or not. As for script being akin to a book, you couldn't be more wrong. I write my own material. When I write for the screen, I write VISUALLY! Film is a visual medium. a book is an intellectual exorcise. A book can dedicate a chapter on describing the sewers of Paris, in a film, there is NO NEED to describe anything, It's there, on the screen right before your eyes. One example I LOVE is "Legend" particularly the Ultimate Edition director's cut. The imagery is BRILLIANT, it is stunning. yet EVERYTHING within the frame of every image was motivated by plot and story. See this is where you're screwing up, there is NO DIVISION between story and style. It is NEVER one or the other in a great movie. Style serves the story ALWAYS!! Take "Casablanca" . Without Michael Curtiz BRILLIANT casting and directing of Bogart, Bergman, Rains and Greenstreet, and the impeccable style of Carl Jules Weyl, the film would would have been a decent, forgettable feature. Had is the definition of style and plot melding into a work of genius. The movie's story is the structure that holds the style up. Without the story, the entire structure collapses and you are left with the remnants of a film that COULD have been great. Had Murray Burnett and his wife NOT visited Vienna shortly after the Anschluss in 1938 and were affected by the anti-Semitism they saw,. the original play would have never been written.Without this inspiration, there wouldn't even be that. During they trip, they went to a nightclub In the south of France that had a multinational clientele, among them many exiles and refugees, and there found the prototype for Sam. ALL the elements of a film are a fusion of style and story. There really is a formula for great film, BUT, the recipe for creating it is unstable and requires an exterior, stabilizing element, audience acceptance, a rare and illusive component that limits the ability to manufacture great art. There are those who have prospected and found the mother-load, Spielberg, Hitchcock,Fellini, Lucas, Hawks, Cameron, Wilder, Scorsese, Allen, Lean, Huston, Capra, Scott, Ford, Lynch and s few rare others, but ultimately, TRUE art is in the purview of people you have never met, nor in most cases, WILL ever meet. You can not create art, you can only make a movie and when it comes right down to it, is any movie really "important"?! Life is important, love is important, science is important, politics are important, Environmental conservation is important, education is important, Freedom is important. We sell flickering light. We dispense ideology in 90 minute chunks. We lie at 24 frames per second and condense the illusion of reality into a tag line. I LOVE the movie industry but we're not curing brain cancer here. Stop taking yourself so seriously. IF you can make a movie that makes the audience forget about their daily grind and lets them live in a more interesting world even for just a little while, then you have done something, something of value and THAT is all one can ask of one's self because in the end, that's all you can give back to the world, a little piece of yourself. Let "ART" sort it's self out because NO MATTER what you do, YOU can't affect the nebulous decision that makes your work art so you might as well just try qne enjoy the work you do and hope someone gets it .

Look, I'm a practical guy. I deal in imagery that tells a story. What happens within the story is what constitutes plot. Leave poetry to Shelley and Byron and magic to Merlin and Doug Henning. What does that mean, anyway? Poetry and freakin' MAGIC?!! If that's what audiences wanted, the only movies made would be about guys in tuxedos spouting Shakespearean sonnets as he saws his beautiful, sequined clad assistant in half while simultaneously pulling a rabbit out of a top hat. What audiences want is stories that they relate to, themes and characters that they identify with, films that draw them in and let them live vicariously through the people on screen. Here's the crux of the problem, you think film making is an art. It's not. Film is a craft. Film makers are artisans. The crew are collaborators that serve the director's vision. The director, in turn, is dependent on the writer's script. All are kept in check by the producers which are limited by the investors and ultimately by the budget. Magic and poetry have nothing to do with this process. Practical problem solving aptitude and basic people skills combined with imagination. drive, flexibility and dogged stalwartness are what make the project breath and live. NO ONE with any brains goes out to make a great movie. You go out to finish a movie on time and on budget because as William Goldman once said, "No one knows anything" and that means it's not up to you. ALL you can do is make your movie to the best of your ability and bring it in when you say you will and for what you say it will cost. Beyond that, it is 100% the audience who decides if it is a great movie or a do or something in between. Vision is a necessity but it is also NEVER 100% of what you envisioned. There are too many people between you and your vision, all necessarily adding their own essential visions to yours and in the end, it ends up a representation of your original vision, but on a positive note, it's usually far better than the original.

"Only God Forgives had a story and sucked anyway" Just a point of clarity, simply because a film has a story doesn't mean it's gonna be a GOOD movie. It has to be a good story, well executed that engages an audience. Great style pushes a good movie to a great movie but great style alone can never save a film devoid of substance, though elements can be gleaned from stylish, empty movies and salvaged to create true works o art. It happens again and again, style is salvaged from pointless films and recycled into fine art. Inspiration can be gleaned from a myriad of sources and a great director seeks out these obscure trash heaps mining the inspiration he needs to find the art within his sole, but the skeletal superstructure of a great film is story. Style is the edifice that adorns is facade.

"You don't call story what I call story" . OK, I'm relaxed, had a beer and am calm. What the XXXX does that mean? Explain what YOU (oh sorry for the caps but DOES convey a visual means of expressing my frustration with this thread) mean? I'm not jumping on you, maybe I'm not understanding your interpretation of the definition of "story" which I use synonymously as "plot". Enlighten me. WHAT in your mind constitutes "plot"?

There is NO great film that has EVER pulled this particular rabbit out of it's ass! You need to go find a cave somewhere and wall yourself inside for a few years to figure out what CINEMA actually is, because at present, you COULDN'T BUY a XXXXing clue if you owned a XXXXING OIL WELL! AGAIN, this is an exorcise in futility, but THERE IS NO CINEMA WITHOUT STORY!!! EEVVEERRYYTTHHIINGG within each and every SINGLE XXXXING FRAME of EACH 24 FPS motion picture SERVES THE XXXXING PLOT!!!! WITHOUT PLOT YOU HAVE NO MOVIE!! What you have is a bunch of beautiful random images, that in the end, add up to JACK 5HIT!! STYLE without PLOT is like trying to drink a soda from a Pepsi commercial! NOTHING IS REAL!! It is smoke an mirrors that is, as Shakespeare put it,"Life's (IN THIS CASE the life of CINEMA WITHOUT PLOT) but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5)" But honestly, I think the more appropriate metaphor for this particular assertion is found in an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night" re-imagined for the stage as "A Little Night Music" (Stephen Sondheim, 1973) in a song title called "Send in the Clowns"! All I'm experiencing here is calliope music and the smell of white pancake. Then again, you can not teach those who will not learn! So to take a line from "Donnie Brasco" "Fogettaboutit!" http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC4QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZf0ZyoUn7Vk&ei=ROpYUpGOFonA9QTol4GYCA&usg=AFQjCNF6TLWfyIKWrJAoUjw2UqAc6gEPoQ

COOL!! I'll look into these options. Thanks for the info. Also good to know. Again, I thank you, sir. B)

LOL, Hey, why not! I believe in publicity stunts!! Last year, Lloyd Kaufman showed up and there was a "Toxic Avenger" clone running around the lobby which everyone seemed to assume had something to do with Halloween, until someone remembered Kaufman was a guest speaker at one of the conferences. I gotta say, the man is absolutely HILARIOUS!! He TRULY reminds me of Mel Brooks, I mean that funny! I got the chance to talk to him alone (well not TOTALLY alone, his bodyguard was there) later that day and had a great time hanging out with him. That's one of the perks of attending for me, you get to meet a lot of interesting folks if nothing else!

COOL! It looks like a good movie! Hopefully, you'll make a great deal and it'll blow up bigtime. I'd love to see Richard Boddington become a household name in the US as it is in Canada and it looks like you're working towards that! I have to agree with you that many of the big guys don't need to be there so they don't show up, but there are some smaller people I've met and it can't hurt to network. Honestly though, I have met a lot of crew at the event from grip, lighting and camera departments. Maybe with the economy the way it is, nobody's taking any chances and they're trying everything they can to advance their career, but they're definitely less prominent than film makers as you mentioned. Buyers and sellers, that's what it all comes down to, you're right about that and I have certainly met a LOT of bullsh!t artists but they're pretty easy to spot. I usually follow up with a quick search to see who's real and who's full of it. Though, not 100%, it does help. I've also met a lot of actors an actresses there as well, which is always fun. At this point, I have 7...8 scripts completed so this coming year something will get made. It's like you with Dark Reprieve, once you've got one in the can, if it's good, the sky's the limit. It's all about getting that first one made. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing your you're promo stuff! From the way you described it, I shouldn't have any trouble spotting it! :D

So, I take it, no one else but me and Richie are gonna be there? :D

OH COOL!! I didn't miss it!!

Oh, good to know, that's for the heads up.

Not sure what "np" means but If I see you, I'll say hello.